….continued.

"Frozen to death. That's where we started, and that's where he'll end. Talk about the irony…"

"Riley, don't talk like that!" Abigail's voice dropped to a whisper.

Riley glanced at her, eyes heavy with worry and concern. He looked away, and sighed. "I… I just want to find him, Abby." He started walking towards Ben's car.

"What are you doing? We haven't searched the whole alley yet!" Abigail ran after him and reached for Riley's arm. "Riley!"

"I want to check out Ben's car." Riley answered quietly. His eyes flashed defiantly. Did you really believe I'd give up like that? His stare made Abigail flinch, and she withdrew.

Tempers were flaring – Riley blamed it on their frustration. They still haven't found Ben, and he could not shake the feeling they were running out of time.

Riley adjusted his scarf, and peered into the car's window. His breath fogged up the view, and he quickly wiped it with his sleeve.

"The engine's running." Abigail stated, her hand on the hood.

Riley frowned. "That means he should be nearby…"

"Why couldn't we find him, then? Where could he be?"

There were a few minutes of silence as they thought about the new development. Riley stared at the ground, willing some clue, some sign, anything that would point him towards where Ben was.

He whispered a little prayer begging for something to go on.

Riley snapped his head up, looking around wildly. What…? He stared into the alley, his face scrunched into a stern expression.

"Do you hear that?" He turned to Abigail. "Was that… was that a moan?"

Abigail glanced around. "Sounds like someone's whispering!"

"You don't think…" Riley trailed off. His eyes met with Abigail's. He didn't need to tell her anything. They both knew what that meant – Ben is here!

"Ben!"

"We found the Charlotte in that frozen wasteland. I wish you could've seen her grandpa; she was beautiful." Ben gestured at the illusion-that-was-his-grandpa. He knew that his grandfather in front of him was nothing but a figment of his imagination. But he didn't care.

He was determined to stay awake, even if it meant talking to ghosts.

Riley and Abigail would not just leave me here, without looking absolutely everywhere. My best bet is that they figured out I'm close to my car.

The wall's shadow in which he was hidden threatened to swallow everything. Ben shook his head forcefully. He wasn't giving up – now that Riley and Abigail were close.

"Ben!"

Ben was pulled into alertness with a start. Was that… did I just…

"Ben! Ben where are you?"

Oh my God, they really are here! Thank you…

"Riley! Abigail!" The names came out as croaked whispers. Ben groaned in frustration, and looked around to search for something he could use to get their attention.

There was a tin garbage can beside him – just out of his reach. He groped for something he could throw at it – a stone, a penny, anything that would make a sound.

His fingers wrapped around a pen cap, and with a last of his strength trickling away, he raised an arm and hurled it towards the can.

It gave a resounding twang! which echoed in the darkness.

Ben gave a silent thanks to the power that looked upon him. Now he just had to wait.

His eyes drooped, and Ben shook his head again. The pain shot down his shoulder, and that was enough to jolt some semblance of wakefulness into him.

He wasn't sure if he could hold on much longer.

Twang!

"Riley!" Abigail called out. She glanced in the sound's direction – and saw a garbage can in the distance. "Riley!" She called again, excitedly, even and Riley came running towards her.

"Found anything?"

"Something twanged around here – it might be Ben trying to get our attention." She explained hurriedly. Riley ran towards the garbage can.

Abigail followed, her eyes repeatedly glancing at the corner close to Ben's car, the one covered in shadows.

She thought she saw something move.

Abigail stared at the spot, and inched closer. She grabbed a small pepper spray from her pocket – something she started bringing after the second biggest adventure of her lifetime. Squinting, she saw an outline of a man lying on the pavement.

"Abigail…" Someone croaked. She stepped closer to the shadow. "Abby…"

Oh my gosh… "Ben!" Abigail screamed, running towards the figure. "Riley! Over here! I found Ben!"

They're coming, Ben.

Ben squinted at the light shining in his eyes, trying to make out the figure of his grandpa talking to him. "Where are they, grandpa? Where…"

He watched as his grandfather faded into the light, replaced by two fuzzy figures over him.

"Ben… Ben…" Someone whispered, and Ben felt something warm wrap around him.

The figures came into focus, and Riley and Abigail came in focus. "Ben… Are you okay?"

"Abigail? Abigail…"

Relief flooded his voice. If he had strength to cry, he would have cried.

"I'm here Ben, I'm here."

His mind vaguely registered that a blanket was now covering his body. Abigail's arms were wrapped around his shivering self, Riley's hands were not far behind.

Riley pulled on Ben's arms, and Ben felt them slip into sleeves, stopping an inch or two far from his wrists. The blanket was again replaced, followed by Abigail's warm embrace.

Warmth. It feels so damn good. It wasn't enough, but Ben was thankful for anything at this point. Everything still ached like hell, especially with Abigail squeezing him like there was no tomorrow, but as far as he was concerned, there was no tomorrow.

He never knew Abigail's hugs felt this good.

Ben was content to be in Abigail's arms, not moving for a moment as Abigail cuddled him, her hands rubbing rhythmically on his cheeks and forehead, and he felt some feeling slowly creep into his cheeks. But he knew he couldn't stay like that for so long. He still had something to do, and this was his chance to do it.

"I'm here Ben, I'm here." Abigail hugged him close, sharing at much of her body heat as she can.

"I'll be back – going to get more blankets from the car." Riley said after slipping Ben his coat. He rubbed his gloved fingers and adjusted his hoodie, and jogged to his car. Abigail watched him leave, and turned her attention Back to Ben.

She felt how cold Ben was as she took him in her arms. She noticed the angry bruises forming on his cheekbones and his chest, and was that caked, frozen blood on his left shoulder? Abigail shook her head, sighing. Who did this to you?

"Ben." She whispered, hugging him as tightly as she can. "Oh Ben…" She shifted in her position, ready to stand up and support Ben. "Come on, we have to get you to a hospital…" Abigail knew that Ben was probably suffering from hypothermia – he needed medical attention fast…

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Abigail…" Ben croaked, and Abigail pulled him closer.

"Ben… What happened?" Abigail rubbed his pale cheeks, and turned Ben's face towards hers.

"I... I wanted to ask you something."

Abigail smiled, and placed her chin on top of his frozen hair. "It's going to be okay Ben – you don't have to apologize. It's okay. I understand."

"N-no… Y-you have to hear this." Ben insisted. She felt Ben grope around on the ground, leaving her puzzled. What is he doing? "Abigail… listen… I… I love you."

Abigail shook her head. "I know Ben – but you don't have to tell me. Nothing's going to happen to you."

Ben smiled, turned his head – with much difficulty, Abigail noted – and raised a hand to Abigail. "No, wait. I want to ask you before… Abigail, please listen."

Abigail blinked at him. She didn't understand what was happening. She glanced at Riley, who arrived with a blanket wrapped around himself, handing Abigail another blanket to wrap around Ben. He stood in the distance, an amused smile on his face.

He certainly knew what Ben was trying to do, and he wasn't making any move to stop Ben.

Abigail wanted to sigh in frustration – she hated being kept in the dark.

Ben managed a small laugh. "I b-bet you're confused. I… I love you Abigail. I know I don't deserve you, th-that I… Abigail, I want to be with you f-forever. W-will you…" Ben gulped, and raised a small rubber band. He took one of Abigail's hands, and Abigail unconsciously slipped her finger in. "will you marry me, A-Abigail?"

Abigail laughed, tears clouding her vision. "Ben… you made me worry for this." She hugged him closer and gave him a small kiss. "I don't believe it. You… you have no idea how angry I am at you, Benjamin Franklin Gates." She wiped at a tear that threatened to fall.

She couldn't believe it. This was insane – was this what Ben was hiding all this time? He was going to propose, and then something went wrong, and…

She just couldn't believe it.

"Ben, I thought we talked about stuttering."Riley grinned, scolding Ben playfully. "You said you were going to pull this off smoothly. And here you are, lying on a pavement." He shook his head. "You made us worry, man."

Abigail turned to Riley. "You knew about this?"

Riley nodded, his grin still ear-to-ear. "Of course I knew about it. So, are you going to answer him?"

"Ben?" Abigail turned to Ben. "I – "

Something went pumf! beside her. The next thing she knew Ben was lying on the ground, his eyes closed, pale blue lips frozen in a smile.

"Ben!"

BENABIGAILBENABIGAILBENABIGAILBENABIGAILBENABIGAILBENABIGAILBENABIGAIL

Okay, I just felt like being evil (as if not updating quickly isn't being evil enough) so I chopped the chappie in half.

Okay, I chopped it in half because I didn't feel like it belonged in just one page. xD

Kudos to loremipsum for being awesome and condolences for her dead laptop. .

Anyway, so, here's my update. I hope it's worth the wait! Please review!

-Jaeh ^^